Nats Bullpen Loses Again

This time it was young rookie Charlie Manning. Why not? The rest of the bullpen has had a multitude of experience in implosion this season.
Despite another quality start from the rotation, specifically, John Lannan, the bullpen could not secure the or win the game. Lannan pitched 6 effective innings, yielding 5 hits and striking out 5 before giving way to the bullpen. Saul Rivera gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in 1.1 innings of relief, followed by a three run homer by San Diego’s Jay Gerut off Manning to ice the game 5-2.
Essentially, the bullpen has become the complete opposite force of last season, when it was atop the majors in effectiveness. Now, it simply can’t win or hold leads. Take out Jon Rauch and lately Joel Hanrahan and the bullpen has been nothing short of dismal.
A bit of good news is the fact that Luis Ayala appears to be surfacing from his personal slump. He has appeared in 7 straight efforts without yielding a run. One comes out, one goes in. Rivera has now yielded a run in his last three appearances and over those three appearances he is 0-2 with a blown save. The two rookies, Manning and Brian Sanches, have not pitched much at all, but both have ERA of 9.00.

Washington’s bullpen is ranked 28th in MLB and worst in the National League, they are 10-11 with 11 saves. Their ERA of 4.47 is worst in the National League. They have yielding the second most walks in the National League and third most in MLB. The are tied for second in both the National League and all of baseball in blown saves. It really just doesn’t get any more dismal than that. If I were a Nationals starter right now, and I am pitching into the 7th with a 1 or 2 run lead and I am feeling pretty good, I am begging to stay in rather than turn it over to this awful bullpen. The only real effective reliever right now is Jon Rauch who is 3-1 with 11 saves and an ERA of 2.38. Take his stats out of Washington’s overall bullpen stats, they likely plummet to the very bottom. Compare that to the starting rotation. The starting rotation’s ERA of 4.45 is 9th best in the National League and at the half way mark in all of baseball (15th). They are 111th overall in walks
BUT, let’s be fair. It isn’t only the bullpen. The offense, minus Christian Guzman and Jesus Flores, simply stinks! Wanna see how bad?

• Batting Average: LAST in MLB, LAST in NL (out of 16 teams)
• Runs Scored: 27th in MLB (out of 30 teams), 13th in NL
• RBIs: 28th in MLB, 15th in NL
• Home Runs: 23rd in MLB, 13th in NL
• Hits: 29th in MLB, LAST in NL
• OBP: 28th in MLB, 15th in NL
• SLG: LAST in MLB, LAST in NL
• Extra Base Hits: 24th in MLB, 15th in NL

Those are pretty pathetic numbers, especially considering how much more potent the offense was to be with a full season from Wily Mo Pena and the acquisitions of Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.
Let’s look at who was suppose to be the big bats. (Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson, Austin Kearns, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, and Wily Mo Pena). Here are there stats combined.
822 at bats, 183 hits, 20 HRs – a batting average of .223
None of these guys has even broke double digits in home runs, not one.
Taking a look at the three who were suppose to provide more offensive pop (Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, and Wily Mo Pena)
357 at bats, 78 hits, 4 home runs, and 30 RBIs – a batting average of .218
The numbers are clear.
What is not clear is how much this will change. Milledge has shown promise and shown stupidity, but the kid is 22 and has alot of growing, maturing, and development to go. He is the baby on the team and his potential remains high. I am more concerned about Pena. Pena in 111 at bats has managed JUST ONE home run and 8 RBis. That’s it! Dukes has struggled consistently.
So there you have it. You wanna know why the Nationals are in last place? There are the facts!